Emanuel Steward

DETROIT - Emanuel Steward, earnest yet easygoing, proved rough and tough wasn't the only way to win in boxing. With a twinkle in his eyes, a smile on his face and a soothing voice, Steward developed unique bonds in and out of the ring with a long line of champions that included Thomas Hearns, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya and Wladimir Klitschko. Steward, owner of the Kronk Gym in Detroit and an International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer, died Thursday. He was 68. His executive assistant, Victoria Kirton, said Steward died Thursday at a Chicago hospital.

Before Emanuel Steward made his reputation molding world champions, he made his mark as a friend and confidant to the very young. Thomas Hearns was just a skinny grade-school kid when he showed up at the Kronk Gym in Detroit and asked Steward to teach him how to box. The story was more or less the same with the McCrory brothers, Milton and Steve, and Duane Thomas. The little boys grew up, grew into top-shelf professional fighters, and from their successes was born the legend of the Kronk Gym and its tough, knowledgeable boxing director.

Michael Moorer trained in Palm Springs, Calif., a quiet, genteel place where raising your pinkie is regarded as an aerobic activity. Moorer is a brutal man inside the ring and he is no kinder or gentler outside. He is rough and crude, a man who punctuates his comments with a stream of profanity that makes Andrew Dice Clay look like Miss Manners. The obscenities are often directed at his own publicists, who once tried to sell him as a sweetheart in short pants. Here is how he describes himself: "I disrespect everybody," Moorer said.

In a town with more than its share of comedians, even the hint of a controversy almost instantly can be turned into a stand-up routine. Did you hear about Ben Johnson? He's moving to Las Vegas and taking up boxing. So it has come down to this. Monday night's scheduled 12-rounder between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, which is likely to become the highest- grossing prizefight of all time, is now a running gag about the possible use of anabolic steroids by Leonard. The only problem is that none of the principals, the accused and his accusers, finds the matter particularly amusing.

It took Emanuel Steward about 36 minutes to nix the retirement party he had been considering for his fighter Thomas Hearns. The change of plans came on June 12, 1989, when Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard fought to a draw - a decision that most observers felt was overly generous to Leonard. "I said that if Thomas didn't look OK in that particular fight, then he should retire," recalled Steward, who has trained Hearns since he turned professional almost 13 years ago. Hearns looked better than "OK," dropping Leonard twice during the bout.

Henry Akinwande, the towering heavyweight, is on the Yellow Brick Road, in search of both a heart and courage. When he reaches Emerald City - Madison Square Garden - Saturday night, perhaps he'll find his seven-week journey with trainer Emanuel Steward has been in vain; that the magic of the Good Witch of the South, Evander Holyfield, is simply too powerful to overcome. But for now, Akinwande seems convinced he's not in Lake Tahoe anymore, Toto. "My time with Emanuel Steward has been very good for me," said Akinwande (33-1-1, 19 knockouts)

A man of few words - and, sometimes, fewer punches - heavyweight contender Michael Moorer stepped out of character last week. The challenger, speaking at a news conference to hype his match with heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield on April 22 in Las Vegas, delivered a speech that qualified as a filibuster. "I'm the type of person that doesn't B.S. with anyone," said Moorer, who has appeared sluggish in recent fights. "I'm one of the realest people in the world. I respect Holyfield as a fighter, as a man, as a brother.

Posing, debating, sitting for interviews, the two guys have been together all week, as inseparable as tango partners. Now it is time for the real dance - the ballistic ballet - to begin. Riddick Bowe will defend his heavyweight title against Evander Holyfield in a scheduled 12-round bout tonight at Caesars Palace, a rematch of one of the greatest heavyweight fights in history. "I'm expecting the same kind of fight we witnessed before," Eddie Futch, who trains Bowe, said, referring to the first fight a year ago. "Both of these men are warriors, and when you put two warriors together, you are bound to get an exciting fight.

The manager for World Boxing Council middleweight champion Thomas Hearns said yesterday he was "about 95 percent" certain that Hearns and Marvin Hagler would hold a rematch of their 1985 bout, but Hagler's attorney said the former champion was uncertain whether he would fight again. Speaking at a Washington news conference with Hearns at his side, Emanuel Steward said he had been negotiating with Hagler's camp since last weekend. Hagler stopped Hearns in three rounds in 1985. Morris Goldings, Hagler's Boston-based attorney, told the Boston Herald that Steward's statement was "entirely untrue.

DETROIT - Emanuel Steward proved rough and tough wasn't the only way to win in boxing. With a twinkle in his eyes, a smile on his face, and a soothing voice, Mr. Steward developed unique bonds in and out of the ring with a long line of champions, including Thomas Hearns, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya, and Wladimir Klitschko. Mr. Steward, 68, owner of the Kronk Gym in Detroit, an an International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer, and an HBO boxing commentator, died Thursday at a Chicago hospital.

Get used to it. World heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is in a league by himself, and it's likely to stay that way for the rest of his career. "There is no heavyweight in the world who can beat him," said his trainer, Emanuel Steward, after the champion from Britain had demolished American Michael Grant in two rounds Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. "The other fighters out there are not even good enough to be his sparring partners. " David Tua from Samoa? Too small.

In boxing, as in life, appearances can be deceiving. Art Manteris, the Las Vegas Hilton oddsmaker who made Lennox Lewis an opening-line 8-5 favorite over Evander Holyfield for tomorrow's heavyweight unification rematch (Lewis is now a 91/2-5 wagering choice), looks at the 6-5, 242-pound Englishman and, like everyone else, can only imagine the possibilities. "Lennox Lewis is the best physical specimen of a fighter I've ever seen," Manteris said with the awe normally reserved for someone glimpsing the Grand Canyon for the first time.

Henry Akinwande, the towering heavyweight, is on the Yellow Brick Road, in search of both a heart and courage. When he reaches Emerald City - Madison Square Garden - Saturday night, perhaps he'll find his seven-week journey with trainer Emanuel Steward has been in vain; that the magic of the Good Witch of the South, Evander Holyfield, is simply too powerful to overcome. But for now, Akinwande seems convinced he's not in Lake Tahoe anymore, Toto. "My time with Emanuel Steward has been very good for me," said Akinwande (33-1-1, 19 knockouts)

Any trainer will tell you there is a certain satisfaction in taking a young fighter from the beginning of his career all the way to a world championship. But that takes time, and time is something Gil Clancy does not invest in just anyone these days. Clancy, best known as the longtime manager-trainer of four-world titlist Emile Griffith, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993. He still gets asked to work with this or that fighter, but Clancy is 75 and unwilling to commit to any long-term project.

Popular theory: Evander Holyfield has Mike Tyson's number. Holyfield beat Tyson twice, would have beaten him had their fight in 1991 gone off as scheduled, will beat him a third time if and when Tyson's boxing license is reinstated. Not-so-popular theory: Michael Moorer has Holyfield's number. His southpaw style flummoxed Holyfield in their 1994 title bout, which Moorer won on a majority decision, and it likely will flummox him again in tomorrow night's unification rematch in the Thomas & Mack Center.

Evander Holyfield is a thief. Don Turner knows, because Turner is a thief, too. He stole from anyone who had an idea worth stealing, which perhaps is why he was honored as 1996's Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. When William Shakespeare wrote, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," he obviously did not have boxing in mind. "I started stealing when I first went in the gym, from Ezzard Charles' trainer, Jimmy Brown," said Turner, 58, who'll be in Holyfield's corner Saturday night when the World Boxing Association heavyweight champion defends his title against former champ Mike Tyson at the MGM Grand.

Before Emanuel Steward made his reputation molding world champions, he made his mark as a friend and confidant to the very young. Thomas Hearns was just a skinny grade-school kid when he showed up at the Kronk Gym in Detroit and asked Steward to teach him how to box. The story was more or less the same with the McCrory brothers, Milton and Steve, and Duane Thomas. The little boys grew up, grew into top-shelf professional fighters, and from their successes was born the legend of the Kronk Gym and its tough, knowledgeable boxing director.

Gary Bell, Evander Holyfield's scout-team answer to Mike Tyson, surely would have continued to imitate Tyson, had his bout with Krishna Wainwright at Arizona Charlie's gone off as scheduled. Bell (11-0, 8 knockouts), the impressive heavyweight prospect from Tyson's old stomping grounds in Brooklyn, N.Y., was a projected early-round winner against Wainwright (6-14-2), with the blitzkrieg boxing techniques he had employed as Holyfield's chief sparring partner for the past two months.